Category: Style

Style

Orange You Glad I Didn’t Say…

the outside lane

Today I am wearing the orange Mossimo sheath, and suede, peep-toe Guess semi-booties pictured.  Find the details at my polyvore page.  I like orange.  I don’t look particularly good in it, but with the spray tan, I find I can wear it just fine.  Going forward, this $12 impulse buy will be my “spray tan” dress.

I bought the shoes at TJ Maxx for around $30 two years ago, so I was surprised to see that you could still buy them online.  I love these.  They are very versatile and dress up or down easily.  You can’t see from the photo, but there is a tiny zipper on the outer edge of the shoe that makes for a little foot jewelry.

The earrings shown are similar to what I am wearing, but mine also have some thin, dark wood hoops at the end.  The necklace pictured is two necklaces layered so you get the gist of mine.  Mine is a seed bead bib-style, multi-strand necklace with little cork beads dyed olive green, camel, and burnt orange.  The beads used to be brighter when I wore this in high school (save your jewelry, girls) but now they all have a nice distressed look.

I used to wear this necklace with a cropped tunic and harem pants in a dark brown, burnt orange/gold Egyptian pattern.  That outfit was fantastic.  I don’t care what you say about harem pants, that outfit was AMAZING!

I put in a picture of the wedding band I am wearing, too.  I switch out my wedding bands.  I have my real sets which are both white gold: the engagement ring and band B gave me for our wedding, and a set he gave me for my birthday the first year we were married.  I also have several fakes in various colors of metal and flash.

Most of the time, I wear my engagement ring and band set.  The engagement ring is an emerald cut solitaire on a knife edge band in white gold, and the wedding band is a bead set eternity band in white gold.  Depending upon what I am wearing, or where we are going, I may not want to risk my real rings.  If we’re at the lake, I wear my plain fake band.  If I’m performing, I wear my gigantic flash set.  If I’m wearing warm colors, I need yellow gold.  If I am wearing pearls, I wear my wedding band, but switch out the engagement ring for a pearl my mother gave me.

Today, since I’m wearing orange and warm colored jewelry, I am wearing my fake yellow gold eternity band.  It’s simple and pretty, and nobody knows the difference.  Well, except you.

Style, Women Worth Knowing

Women Worth Knowing: Meet Natalie Perkins

the outside lane

I talk a lot about style and fashion, and I speak from the perspective of someone who has been small enough to wear sample sizes, and large enough that I couldn’t shop at Express.  I know a thing or two about dressing a tiny, cute body, and a thing or two about dressing a larger, cute body.  What I know best of all is that it isn’t the size of the body making it cute, it’s the attitude wearing the body, wearing the clothes.  Nothing I like better than a sharp dressed attitude, so I was excited to find Natalie Perkins.

Jezebel.com introduced me to Brisbane native, Natalie Perkins, an artist (portfolio here), fashion blogger, and joy to behold.  Natalie came to my attention when Jezebel reposted her blog article about having become a focal point of a Facebook group dedicated to mocking larger bodies in skinny jeans.  Refusing to be bullied out of hers, Natalie took the gospel of greatness at any size into their group and invited them to get to know her as a human being, rather than throwing internet eggs at a nameless soul. Kindly and gently, and with excellent syntax probably wasted on that lot, Natalie suggested that hating her figure wasn’t the key to happiness, but that it could be found in learning to love one’s own.

What I love about Natalie’s blog and twitter feed is that she posts about style (fashion/home decor/art)  in a way that makes you feel like you could be just as much a bon vivant as she.  Rather than just drawing back the curtains to allow you a peek behind the runway into a world exclusive of you, she flings open the doors and invites you to experience the color and texture she found there.

Great fashion is about art, and art has nothing to do with your height, weight, hair color, or shoe size.  Great art has to do with passion.  Natalie is full of that.

Meet Natalie.

Name: Natalie Perkins
Age Range: On the cusp of my 30s
Preferred Job Title: Artist
Industry: Graphic design/ illustration

Who are you?
I’m Natalie, and I feel like I’m working out who I am every day. The things that characterise me are friendliness, my laugh, my real-world ditziness, and my passions for self acceptance and art. I was born in Brisbane, Australia and I’ve only really left this town on short trips interstate, but I’ve wanted to visit or even New York one day (something I’ve wished for since I was little!)

Describe your family:
My family is very big, welcoming and loud. We like to argue and laugh, and this can be a little bit intimidating for new people but we always want to include people and bring them in. We don’t shy away from hard issues, and I can credit my family for pushing me through some really awful mental health times.

What does the first hour of your day look like?

When I wake up I usually go into the bathroom and splash my face with water, then go and make myself a coffee. I sit down with emails and try to plan out the rest of my day. Sometimes I’ll eat toast (buttered with a little bit of strawberry jam) but it’s a struggle, I have never enjoyed eating in the mornings.

The last hour?
Preparing for bed usually consists of a hot Milo, some stuffing about watching tv or browsing the internet, and then I brush my teeth and wash my face.

What makes you feel successful?

Finishing a drawing that achieves the things I set out to achieve. Solving problems (usually visual/ spatial problems!) When I’ve been of assistance to people. Receiving praise!

What brings you joy?
I feel joy when marginalised people receive equitable treatment; when I’m formulating a creative plan (for a client or for my personal work); when I’m laughing with my friends and family; and when I am alone, working. Also… puppies! I am unapologetic about my love for dogs, and even though I can’t have one in the apartment I currently live in, I will lavish attention upon any puppy I see.

What women do you admire?

I admire my female friends and my Mum and Nana. I also admire countless many activists and artists: Beth Ditto, Nomy Lamm, Charlotte Cooper, Tori Amos, Marianne Kirby, Marian Bantjes, Hazel Dooney, Lesley Kinzel, Kate Harding, Sia Furler, Aimee Mann… I could go on forever!

What do you like best about your closest friend?

My closest friend is my husband. I love that he is open to discussing really sticky issues, and that he understands my need for alone time.

What do you like best about yourself?

I like that I am more concerned with personal growth and self awareness than I am with being wrong. I don’t mind admitting I have thought or said or done something hurtful because I am so mindful of all the things I don’t yet know in the world. I want to learn and be taught by people who know more than I do.

What advice would you give boys about girls?

Girls are human beings, boys are human beings. Girls don’t all exhibit the same behavioural traits, we are a gender that consists of billions of different, beautiful characteristics. Instead of assuming a woman will react a certain way, give her the opportunity to react how she wants.

How do you overcome adversity?

Adversity is so varied for everyone. In my life I have had access to a huge range of privileges (I’m white, middle-class, uni educated etc); I have had some very dark times that perhaps weren’t as awful because I did have certain privileges. I found that having a strong support network really helped me, and talking through problems was a key factor.

How do you want to be remembered?

I think I’d like people to remember me for being myself, to the full extent of my being, including all the nice and the not so nice bits. I want to have challenged people and nurtured unconventionality!

Learn more about Natalie here:
Blog: http://www.definatalie.com
Portfolio: http://www.natalieperkins.com

Style

Adventures in Spray Tanning

the outside lane

I love changing my hair color, so imagine my joy in discovering I could change my skin color without turning orange!  It was joyous joy.  I can be toasty brown for two days, then watch myself fade away in patchwork that is as amusing as it is challenging to try to camouflage.  I’ve just gotten the hang of how to make my way around the poses in the VersaSpa I use at Planet Tan, so my last three forays into the world of the sun-kissed have not been as piebald as the first.  Until yesterday.

Today is the wedding of our very good friend, Eamon.  He was the best man in our wedding, and his fiancee, Christina, is a lovely woman.  I wanted to look my summery best in the light blue dress I bought for the occasion, so I headed over to Planet Tan after work.  I asked for the medium coloring, thinking rightly that it would look nice with the blue.

Just like always, I stripped down, put on my haircover, wiped myself off with the baby naps in the dressing room, then applied the barrier cream to my hands and tops of my feet.  Prepared, I hopped into the booth, watching the spray whish-whish-whish up my legs.  Up to my thighs I realized, “I am wearing glasses!”

I panicked.  I had no idea what the spray would do to my frames or lenses, and couldn’t figure out how to hold them so that they wouldn’t get a blast of color.  I cracked the door open and flung them.  Just in time for the spray to reach my arms.  And then, I sneezed so hard it turned my body sideways, so that the spray completely missed my face, and I skidded in the spray residue on the floor.  Then, I got a mouthful of the stuff because I started laughing.

Today has been one camouflage job after another.  First, I really had to deal with the waveline streak created when I stuck my arm out the door of the tanning booth to eject my glasses.  There isn’t much you can do but let something like that fade, or try to scour it off.  I got in the shower with a sugar and salt scrub, and scoured.  It is still obvious, but not so much that you can see it in flash photography.

Next, I had to address the fact that my face is still Lane-colored, but from the neck down, I am decidedly SummerLane-colored.  Tinted moisturizer and pressed powder from CoverGirl (because I’m not buying something expensive to use as makeup when it is only going to match me one week out of the month) evened me out enough that I didn’t feel like a mime, and then wearing my bangs covered up the top half of my face.  The hardest part about spray tanning, for me, is matching makeup once it’s done.  I am so pale that I can put a light gold on and it is still darker than my complexion.  Thus, I can wear just about any color, and have learned how to make all colors tone down.  With a spray tan on, I have to figure out how to make colors pop and blend at the same time on my own face.  I can do this easily on someone else.  You’d think it would be easy to do on me.  Surprisingly, I find that I can wear blues without looking like I belong in an episode of Police Woman.  Sgt. Pepper Anderson, eat your heart out!

The worst of the issue comes in at the bottom of my feet, so it isn’t much of a problem, but I will know that there is a pawprint of tan stamped where a serious looker could find it in my strappy sandal.  If you are looking that closely, though, there are bigger fish to fry than my spray tan.  This happens to a degree every time, but I thought I had managed it with the barrier cream.  Apparently not.

Que spray tan, spray tan.

And now I am off to dress up in my fancy frock and go wish Eamon and Christina the best in the world.

Style

Skirting the Issue

the outside lane

Fleetingly considered breaking my rule about taking pictures of strangers just to show you what you should not wear if you wish to be taken seriously as a professional.

Ladies.  Hemlines.  Please.  For the love of Judge Judy, if you want me to believe you are a legitimate professional, wear a skirt that covers your thighs.  Otherwise, I am likely to believe you are a member of a profession that will get me arrested for writing you a check.  Ally McBeal was a lie.

Style

Shutter Style

the outside lane

Do you ever find shoes in your closet and go, “Why don’t I wear these more often?  These are cute!”  And then two hours into your day go, “Oh yeah…”

I’m doing that right now.  I remember that I bought these shoes for a very specific purpose:  To wear to Thor’s baby dedication. 

Two things I learned from that day.  One, never, ever, ever wear something that is going to be broadcast on a church plasmatron without taking a photo of yourself in it first.  Holy post-pregnancy body in shiny stretch lace, Batman!  And never, ever, ever wear something that is going to be broadcast on a church plasmatron without taking a photo of yourself in it first.  Yes, I know I have repeated myself.  The lesson was so important, I learned it twice.  No, five times.  Once from every bad angle.

I do recommend taking pictures of outfits.  You’d be surprised how different an outfit looks on camera.  Like that adorable green top I wore to Leslieann’s bridal luncheon?  In person, extra adorable.  In the photos?  Oh my word.  So many kinds of wrong I won’t even bore you with all of them.

When taking the pictures, you’ll want four.  One from the front, one profile, one backside, and one seated-profile.  You want to make sure nothing weird is happening when you sit down. 

ALWAYS sit down in the dressing room when you are trying something on.  I cannot understand how actresses go on talk shows in skirts that are so short they keep yanking them down self-consciously throughout their interviews.  Did they not have to sit down in the greenroom?  Seriously, Tina Fey.  I love you more than cheese, but I couldn’t pay attention to what you were saying for worrying about the dress you kept tugging on the last time you sat on Letterman’s stage.